


you said you wanted to fall into oblivion

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: A Little Bit of Humor, A lot of fucking death in this fic, Angst, Gen, Harper Row is Oracle, Jason Todd is Nightwing, Nell Little is Spoiler, Not a lot of death after the first chapter, Stephanie Brown is Batman, Stephanie and Jason rebuild the batfam and become parents but also not really: the fic, also some crying, only in the beginning though, or at least she tries to be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25137358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In many of Stephanie's day dreams and fantasies, she had often envisioned herself as Batman. It was always supposed to be a dumb fantasy - she would have been lucky to have gotten the role of Nightwing, let alone The Bat. But now, she really was Batman, in the worst possible way.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Alfred Pennyworth, Stephanie Brown & Harper Row, Stephanie Brown & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Nell Little
Comments: 12
Kudos: 40





	1. you had it all

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [touch the sky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12504812) by [AlmondRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose). 



It shouldn't have happened like this.

In many of Stephanie's day dreams and fantasies, she had often envisioned herself as Batman. It was always supposed to be a dumb fantasy - she would have been lucky to have gotten the role of Nightwing, let alone The Bat. But now, she really was Batman, in the worst possible way.

*~~~*

It started with Cass. The Family had been fighting a literal army of ninjas in a battle with the League of Assassins. Lady Shiva had been there, but ran for reasons unknown. Cass gave chase. By the time they caught up, Cass's neck had been twisted to the side. The Black Bat was no more. Everyone expected a follow up, for Shiva to bring her daughter back like the last two times her daughter had perished at her hand. But it never came. 

Instead, a video did. It wasn't long or complicated, just a simple video of Shiva informing Batman that she had not intended for Cass to die, that she was forced to kill her by Cain. The video ended with the World's Deadliest Assassin pleading for forgiveness from her daughter, and then plunging her hand into her chest in a squelch of blood, tearing out her own heart in her grief.

Stephanie cried the night of the video, the final confirmation that Cass was gone, forever this time, tearing through her mind like a hurricane.

*~~~*

Stephanie rubbed her finger against the cowl in her hand. The Batsuit she wore wasn't special, just a better armored version of her Batgirl uniform. But whereas she once smiled everytime she became Batgirl, she now cried when she became Batman. The memory of her not-family dying still plagued her heart and mind, and the grief was almost unbearable at times, but she struggled through it like she did everything else that had happened to her.

*~~~*

History repeated itself and a Robin died at the hands of The Joker. Tim found himself shackled in a warehouse, beaten with a crowbar, and blown up, exactly like how Jason died all those years ago.

This time, no one was able to stop Jason from killing Joker. Bruce, Babs, Dick, everyone tried their hardest to find him before he could commit the deed, but the night after Tim's death, Jason marched through The Joker's various safehouses and bases and shot down everyone who followed the madman. Only Harley Quinn was spared, Jason recognizing her as a victim, same as him.

The second Robin never returned from his rampage. While a few people assumed he had died in the storm of bullets and explosives, a body was never recovered.

*~~~*

"Miss Stephanie?" asked the all too familiar voice of Alfred, one of the only remnants of the Family left aside from Steph herself. "Might I suggest you sit down for a spot of food before going out?"

"Not tonight Alfred," she responded. The irony of her becoming more and more like Bruce did not let itself go unnoticed. "I'll eat later."

"Miss Stephanie, I insist. Don't let yourself think that I don't know that you haven't had a proper meal since Master Da-"

"Alfred, please. Maybe I'll eat something tomorrow, but just not tonight." A few seconds of silence follow before she hears a response.

"Of course, Miss Stephanie."

*~~~*

Robin and Nightwing die together. The two are off on a mission with the Titans and while details are unclear, all everyone knows is that after the mission ends, the lifeless bodies of Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne are brought to them by Starfire and Troia. Bruce buries his sons next to Cass and Tim, they themselves buried next to Martha and Thomas Wayne, and buries his grief and anger in his work as Batman.

*~~~*

"Oracle to Batman," says the familiar voice of Harper Row over comms. "We have a situation."

"Understood," Stephanie responds. "I'm on my way."

*~~~*

Barbara was angry with Dick's death. She takes an experimental surgery, one she had once never wanted to do under any circumstances, one which restored to her the use of her legs. She trains and trains and restores and rebuilds the atrophied muscles in her legs and becomes Nightwing to honor her dead lover.

Her first night out, her rustiness on the field shows itself and she's shot once more, this time in the head, and Barbara Gordon is no more.

*~~~*

Stephanie grips the steering wheel of the Batmobile and an old memory surfaces, one of her asking Bruce if she could drive the car during her days as Robin. Before she could start crying again, she shoves the memory out of her head and heads to the Clocktower.

*~~~*

Harper Row got off easier than most. The grapple hooks in the boots of her Bluebird suit snapped and she wound up falling from several stories up. Her leg wound up snapping from the fall in such a way that she could not do any more field work. She wound up taking the role of Oracle, still wanting to prove her worth to Batman.

*~~~*

Stephanie arrives at the Clocktower and quickly punched in the access code. She climbed into the elevator and took the ride up to Oracle's workshop.

The elevator opened up, revealing Harper standing next to Nightwing.

Wait, what?

*~~~*

Nobody's really sure how it happened. One minute, Bruce put on his cowl and left the cave in the Batmobile, and the next, Batman lay dead on the street, blood pooling around his body. Stephanie was at her home about to suit up as Batgirl when Harper called her. Her heart dropped to her stomach. Bile forced its way up to her mouth, but she held off on vomiting until Harper hung up.

She cried again, just as she had whenever everyone else had died.

The next day, Stephanie strolled into Lucius Fox's office, her uniform in a disguised bag, and requested for him to armor it up, to make her Batman.

*~~~*

For a moment, Stephanie believed that Dick had returned from the dead, but once she began studying the Nightwing in front of her, it was clear who it really was. The white stripe of hair. The slightly darker skin tone. The leaner body.

Jason Todd had returned.

"He stopped by a half hour ago," Harper explained.

"Hey Blondie," he said with a cheeky smile. "Long time, no see." Steph ran up to Jason and wrapped him up in a big hug.

"Where have you been?" she cried, a tear streaming down her face. "I- We all thought you died."

"I… had to go." Jason looked to his feet. "I didn't think Bruce would want me around anymore after I…"

"He would have worked through it with you, Jay. I know he would have." Stephanie pulled away from him. Jason looked back up and offered a small smile.

"I see a lot has changed." Stephanie nodded sadly.

"Damn near everyone died or left. Harper, Alfred, and I are the only one's left." Jason nodded solemnly.

"Well," he said after a few moments of silence. "Count me back in." Steph and Harper both blinked in surprise.

"What?!" Harper exclaimed in disbelief.

"I've seen how bad Gotham is now. You need as much help as possible." Stephanie studied Jason for a moment before making a decision. She stuck her hand out to him.

"Welcome back, Nightwing."


	2. forget about the world we're living in

Jason had been right. While Gotham hadn't entirely fallen apart yet, a majority of the various gangs and organizations had gotten bolder since Bruce died. Having some help out in the field would be useful.

*~~~*

"I'm honestly surprised you survived," Jason tells her after they both climb into the Batmobile. "I figured you would have died in a fight or an accident or something."

"Would you have preferred it that way?" Steph asks half-worried, half-joking.

"Definitely not." Steph hummed a reply. "I just… you don't have a lot of good luck."

"I've only ever almost died once."

"What about that time with Artemis Crock and the cast iron stove?"

"That doesn't count." For the first time in a while, she smiles for real. The banter between her and Jay had always been fun.

"So…" Jason looked over to her. "You're Batman." Stephanie's smile fell.

"Yeah. I am."

"Not how you wanted the position?"

"I never really did, to be honest," she said with a long sigh. "I would have been happy sticking with Batgirl."

"Well, it's not like there was anyone else to do it." It wasn't meant to sting as badly as it did, but it still hurt to hear. She fought back tears.

"Yeah."

The rest of the ride back is silent.

*~~~*

The Bat Cave hadn't changed much. Aside from new memorials dedicated to the fallen and a different Batsuit in the case, it looked the same as it had from before everything…

Stephanie didn't dare finish that thought.

She parks the Batmobile and the two of them exit. Jason ripped off his mask and Steph repeated the action, removing her cowl.

"I like the hair," Jason complimented her. Steph gestured to her hair, which had been cut short following Bruce's death.

"Had it cut after Bruce…" Jason didn't let her finish, simply nodding to her. "There wasn't room in the cowl and I wanted Gotham to think I was the original for as long as possible."

"How'd that turn out?"

"Riddler immediately knew and revealed that I wasn't Bruce within my first hour."

"Brown luck?"

"Brown luck."

An alert from the Batcomputer sounded, one that the two were very familiar with. The sound that played whenever the Bat Signal was switched on. Steph groaned.

"I was hoping for a quiet night tonight."

"I believe Bruce called it 'The Never Ending Battle'." Stephanie let out a breathless chuckle and replaced her cowl.

*~~~*

Stephanie and Jason make it to the GCPD building in a few minutes. The two grapple up to the top of the building simultaneously and climb to the top of the building. Standing in front of the Bat Signal is a familiar figure in purple.

'What the fuck?' Stephanie nearly says out loud.

"Oh my God, you came!" yells the young girl wearing an obviously homemade Spoiler costume. She runs up to Stephanie and wraps her up in a hug.

"Nell, what are you doing?" Steph says. The girl - Nell Little - pulls away from the hug, her eyes wide.

"I wanted to help. You know, as Spoiler." She gestures to her costume. "You told me once that you were Spoiler and I wanted to be Spoiler so I could help you fight the bad guys." She brandishes an admittedly sturdy-looking shower curtain that the girl is obviously using as a bo staff. "I have a weapon and everything!"

"Uh, Batman?" Jason interrupts. "Care to explain?" Stephanie rubs the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming along.

"Nightwing, meet Nell Little. My biggest fan back during my Batgirl days." Nell gasps in excitement, apparently taking notice of Jason for the first time.

"Nightwing!"

"Nice to meet you kid."

"Nell," Stephanie begins. "I am probably the biggest hypocrite in history for saying this, but please, go home." Even behind her mask, Stephanie could tell that Nell's smile had disappeared.

“What?! Why?” Stephanie knelt down and placed her hand on Nell’s shoulder.

“When I first started working with Batman, every other sentence out of his mouth was him demanding I went home. I didn’t think it was fair either. But now I realize that he was just trying to look out for me. And after everything that’s happened recently, I’m not putting a child in danger. So please, Nell, go home, and maybe in a few years, we’ll see about you suiting up.”

“I… OK. I will.” Nell saunters off and grabs a grapple gun from her belt. She fires the hook and it wraps around a nearby sturdy pipe and she begins climbing down the building.

"Well, I guess we know how she got up here now," Jason says. "How'd she get that, anyways?"

"I think I dropped it in a fight with Slipstream a while back. She must have taken it." 

"Should we get it back?" Steph shook her head.

"She can keep it. Not like one missing is gonna hurt anything." She looks up at Jason. "Come on, let's head back." She switches off the Bat Signal and heads back to the Batmobile.

*~~~*

The ride back to the Cave was silent, aside from Jason humming an unfamiliar tune- "Roy showed me some of his music from when he was in a band." - and it was maddening. The Bat Family shouldn't be silent, not the way they were now. There should be Dick laughing at his own jokes, Cass trying to sound out a difficult word during a free moment, Bruce or Babs telling somebody to knock off their shenanigans. But none of it was here, none of it would ever be here again, and Stephanie started crying again because she simply couldn't hold in her tears anymore. If Jason noticed, he didn't say anything.

When they arrive, Steph climbs out of the Batmobile and tears off her cowl. She shouldn't be Batman, shouldn't have to be Batman, but she was Batman, had to be Batman, because Jason sure as hell didn't want to be. She drops the cowl onto the floor with a heavy thud as 4 and a half pounds of protective ceramic and kevlar land. She curls into a ball on the floor and weeps into her arms. Jason sits down in front of Steph and pulls her into a silent hug.

She doesn't know how long she and him stay huddled together that way, but she eventually hears Alfred walking down the stairs. She quickly dries her tears and stands back up, Jason following her up.

"Master Jason?" Alfred says in disbelief. Jason simply offers a lazy wave. "It's good to see you again. And I do hope you stay this time." He turns to Steph. "Miss Stephanie, we have a 'visitor'." Stephanie can tell from his tone that he meant someone undesirable had stopped by, but who it was escapes her. It could be anyone from Vicky Vale to Deathstroke to Ra's al Titty Fucking Ghul for all she knew. Stephanie quickly pulls the rest of her uniform off, leaving on a pair of leggings and a tank top, and goes up stairs.

Stephanie hears two voices from the closest thing to a living room Bruce had, both vaguely familiar in the most unfamiliar way possible, like she's heard them distantly whispering before. She rounds the corner to see…

Well, she was partly right. It's an al Ghul, but not Ra's, thank fuck. Instead it's Talia, along with what appears to be Damian, if Damian was a girl. Huh.

"Hello, 'Batman'," Talia mocks with a smirk. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a guess who the girl with Talia is and if you guess right, you get a cookie.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Oblivion by Dirty Palm
> 
> I'll be honest, I forgot about Bette, Kate, Duke, and Helena until I was almost done with this chapter. I'll explain where they went later.


End file.
